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The team took the 20-8 September finish into the playoffs and swept the Phillies in the NLDS and the Diamondbacks in the NLCS. The Red Sox stopped the run with a sweep of their own in the World Series, but the season proved an encouraging one for seasons who wondered if the Rockies could ever win again.The Rockies began playing to large crowd right away. Players like Andres Galarraga thrived in the city, winning the NL battle title with a .370 average. Unfortunately other teams loved playing there as well, and the Rockies finished the season 67-95.
The next few seasons saw the Rockies improve dramatically, and the Rockies put together three seasons in a row over .500 and even had a playoff appearance in 1995.
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Eventually the pitching woes ended the run of early success and the Rockies fell from grace with high priced arms that turned out to be duds at Coors Field. Bill Swift, Bret Saberhagen, Darryl Kile, Denny Neagle, and Mike Hampton were all very successful pitchers outside of the Denver, but failed to take the team out of the basement once they arrived.
This failure to win via free agency left the Rockies with a large payroll and a fan base that was becoming numb to the home runs and more and more aware of the losses. The Rockies cleaned house in 2005 after the fifth straight losing season and the ninth consecutive year of falling attendance.
The team rebuilt around veteran Todd Helton with players like Garrett Atkins, Matt Holliday and pitchers like Jason Jennings, Aaron Cook, and Jeff Francis. The result was a couple of poor seasons and a monster turn around in 2005 that found the Rockies in second place in the NL West and a wild card winner.
The team took the 20-8 September finish into the playoffs and swept the Phillies in the NLDS and the Diamondbacks in the NLCS. The Red Sox stopped the run with a sweep of their own in the World Series, but the season proved an encouraging one for seasons who wondered if the Rockies could ever win.
The Colorado Rockies return with much of the roster that took them out of the National League West and into the World Series in 2007. The starting pitching is finally out of the cellar, as evident by last year’s middle of the road performance. The Rockies ranked eighth in the NL and the bullpen ranked sixth, considering that the team plays in Coors Field, that is very impressive. Jeff Francis is the ace of the staff with a 17-9 record last season. The rest of the rotation features guys who were injured for much of 2007 and whose numbers do not show how good they were, for that look at the deep playoff run. Those pitchers include Aaron Cook, Ubaldo Jimenez, and Jason Hirsh.
Those teams had the “Blake Street Bombs,” four power hitters in Galarraga, Bante Bichette, Larry Walker, and Vinnie Castillo who regularly hit the ball out of the park onto Blake Street. The addition of Ellis Burks and Todd Helton only strengthened th lineup. The terrific bullpen is split at closer with Manny Corpas and Brain Fuentes. Matt Corpas had the better ERA, but also really only has one pitch, an overpowering fastball. Fuentes has two, a fastball and slider. Luis Vizcaino comes in between the starter and the closer to nicely hold the game. A more telling stat than his 77 appearances last season is his 2.77 ERA on the road.
The offense is loaded for the Rockies, with a little help from the thin Rocky air. The entire outfield is capable of producing big, with Matt Holiday in left, Willy Tavares in center, and Brad Hawpe in right. The power on the infield did not come from Todd Helton, but from third baseman Garrett Atkins and shortstop Troy Tulowitzki. The only weak bats in the lineup are catcher Yorvit Torrealba and second baseman Marcus Giles. Coors Field promises to play home to an exciting season over a long 162-game schedule that includes serious competition for the World Series and not just another batch of home runs.